How do you solve a problem like Marianne Vos?

It was one of the most dominant performances you will ever see from a professional cycling team in a major race.

Three riders on the final podium; the top four places in the points competition; four out of the top seven places in the mountains jersey; and winning six out of ten stages for the race.

That was the Rabo-Liv women’s team in the Giro Rosa this week.

Marianne Vos was the chief destroyer, winning the overall, the points jersey and a lazy four stages. Such was Vos’ consistency throughout the ten days in Italy, she was only off the podium twice in ten stages.

How do you deal with a problem like Marianne Vos? Her results were: 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 1st, 6th, 3rd.

Honestly, that is a phenomenal performance. Vos has won so many World Championships it’s difficult to be surprised by her ability to win, but she continues to improve.

The really scary thought is that even without the Dutch superstar, her Ravo-Liv team would still have utterly dominated the race. Annemiek van Vleuten, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Anna van der Breggen contributed their own results, and as a team they were simply unstoppable.

Britain’s Emma Pooley (Lotto-Belisol) was the only rider to consistently challenge the Rabo-Liv hegemony, winning three mountain stages in fine style, and dominating the mountains jersey, scoring nearly double the points of her nearest rival, Valentina Scandolara of Orica-AIS.

But with so many options it was impossible for other teams to mark all of Rabo-Liv’s danger women. How can you compete tactically against a team with such strength and depth?

So that was the women’s Giro for 2014. An intense week of dominance from the Rabo-Liv team, which will raise some serious questions for rivals leading into this week’s Thuringen Rundfahrt stage race, and the La Course at the Tour de France.